Christmas Eve 2019

Greetings! Glory to God!

Merry Christmas!

I suppose I have already made some first impression on you all already

can't change it now, huh?

I thank you all for coming this evening to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity here at St. John's and Grace.

I am thrilled to be celebrating this joyous occasion with you.

We all know from life experience

that first impressions are important.

The way we greet people, 

for the first time ever, 

or for the first time in a day,

makes a huge difference in how our relationship is going to be.

If I got up here and yelled at you, 

you wouldn't feel that great about me

and our relationship would probably suffer for it.

If your spouse texted you something mean every morning without saying Good morning,

it would cause some problems in your relationship.

But when someone greets you nicely and happily

it shares the joy and makes our relationships better.

When we listened to the gospel passage for this evening just a few moments ago,

we heard how the angels greeted the shepherds.

The Angels greeted the Shepherds

in the middle of the night,

in the darkness of the night

as giant bright lights of God's glory

so bright the shepherds are startled and can't see

they can't protect their sheep from whatever is creating this light 

or anything that happens when they are blind.

I don't know about you

but anyone who wakes me up in the middle of the night

with bright lights

does not make a good impression

and isn't going to see my nice side right away.

I'm not sure who in this scenario should have been more afraid

the shepherds at the angels

or the angels for startling the shepherds,

either way, it makes for a rather terrifying first impression.

Which makes sense that the first thing the angel says is, "Do not be afraid."

Its supposed to be a phrase of comfort, 

though that probably didn't put everyone at ease right away...

you know its going to be quite the invitation when the first words are "Do not be afraid"

Have you ever been invited to an event or to do something that started with "Do not be afraid?"

Such invitations immediately sends concern racing through my heart...

what do you mean, don't be afraid?

The angels know that what is happening though,

the change in the world,

the coming of the Messiah,

is for good.

God is setting the world on fire for good.

The real announcement the angel has is of good news!

When someone wakes me up in the middle of the night

I do want to know what is going on

and who knows if I'll ever get back to sleep again anyway

So I am not at all surprised

that the shepherds leave right away

they travel to Bethlehem to see what the angels have said,

surprising as it is as well.

The Messiah has been born!

The Messiah the people have been waiting for and hoping on and dreaming of...

The Messiah who is going to change the world!

The Messiah...

wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.

Even in the first century

most newborn babies didn't hang out in mangers.

Jesus: a hipster from the beginning.

No matter how you look at the scene from the Gospel passage from Luke though

we know something special is going on.

Those shepherds definitely received a personal invitation to the birth of Jesus

Not in a silver envelope

but in person, with lights and song and a back up choir

there is no question that God was inviting those shepherds to see something amazing

God wanted them to be a part of it.

Those angels offer us the same invitation,

whether you are here because you always come to this church

or you were personally invited by someone to come to this church

or whether you are here because of a family duty to attend on this special occasion

Whether you know it or not,

God has called you into this time and space for a reason.

God wants you to be a part of the changing of the world.

each and every one of you here this evening

have been given a personal invitation

to witness the birth of the Messiah

our Savior,

Jesus.

Thankfully we did not receive midnight wake up calls by blinding angels,

I suppose I should check, did any of you get midnight wake up calls by blinding angels?

Because if you did, I want to hear about that! Forget the sermon, we are hearing that story!

No?

Oh

Okay. I'll continue.

God reaches out to each of us, to give us an invitation today

to see something special

to hear something special 

to know someone special

to be present at the birth of our savior Jesus

This is the time for first impressions

his for us and us for him.

Our savior in a manger.

I'm not sure he would be on the top future CEO pick list

but then, that's not the point

right?

The point is completely different than our images of success

the point is not conquering the world through power and military might

the point is conquering the world through love

and what better way to do that

than with a baby?

Haven't you ever noticed the immediate first impression and reaction 

when someone with a baby walks into a room?

everyone in the room immediately softens, 

there is an immediate outpouring of love

immediate baby talk and cutesy conversation.

a baby comes into a room 

and everyone is suddenly happier, warmer, and more loving.

Want to conquer the world with love?

send a baby.

I'm actually kind of surprised it took Disney so long to figure this out

and create Baby Yoda.

But talk about an immediate good reaction and love by all.

Absolutely adorable.

Our invitation to meet the baby Jesus tonight

is not simply for us to meet a baby

or for us to give a good first impression.

We are invited into a mystery as old as the universe

and better than much fine wine!

We are invited to know our God

in a very personal way,

through the man Jesus

who was both human and divine,

who came into this world to teach us about how much God loves us

and who died and destroyed death

so that in God's kingdom, we can all live forever.

We are invited every year

to something old and something quite new.

God doesn't live far and removed from us,

God doesn't disregard how we live our lives

God doesn't leave us on our own to take care of ourselves,

no!

God is with us.

Emmanuel.

Jesus Christ

the baby born this night

the fulfillment of a promise

given by God.

Christmas is an invitation

a personalized, silver platter invitation

to you

and you

and you

and even to you all in the back

trying to hide, you have been invited too.

The creator of the universe,

God of all time and space,

wants to be in relationship with you

Because God already loves you.

Tonight is just the beginning.

The invitation

the announcement

the start of the story.

The rest of the story is written 

by you

as you live your relationship with God.

Come, let us meet Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.